Dispersion behaviour, thermal and electrical conductivities of carbon nanotube-polystyrene nanocomposites

Author

Yang, Y. ; Gupta, M.C. ; Zalameda, J.N. ; Winfree, W.P.

Author_Institution

Charles L Brown Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Volume

3

Issue

2

fYear

2008

fDate

6/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

35

Lastpage

40

Abstract

The dispersion behaviour, thermal and electrical conductivities of carbon nanotube-polystyrene nanocomposites were investigated. The dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the nanocomposites was characterised by scanning electron microscope; it was observed that CNTs were homogeneously dispersed and embedded within the polystyrene matrix. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites were measured with a through transmission thermal inspection system at room temperature. The results showed that the thermal conductivity increased with an increase in CNT content, and the nanocomposite loaded 5 wt CNTs exhibited a 120 enhancement in thermal conductivity. The correlation between the dispersion behaviour and thermal and electrical conductivities was discussed. In addition, it was demonstrated that CNT-polymer nanocomposites give larger increases in thermal and electrical conductivities for the same loading of carbon nanofibres, graphite powders and silver nanoparticles.

Keywords

carbon fibre reinforced plastics; carbon nanotubes; disperse systems; electrical conductivity; filled polymers; graphite; nanocomposites; nanoparticles; nanotechnology; scanning electron microscopy; thermal conductivity; Ag; C; CNT-polymer nanocomposites; carbon nanofibres; carbon nanotube-polystyrene nanocomposite preparation; dispersion behaviour; electrical conductivity; graphite powders; scanning electron microscope; silver nanoparticles; temperature 293 K to 298 K; thermal conductivity; transmission thermal inspection system;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Micro & Nano Letters, IET

Publisher

iet

ISSN

1750-0443

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/mnl:20070073

Filename

4560061